The
conference of the National Union faction, which has MKs in the
Habayit Hayehudi Knesset party, approved a plan Tuesday for
essentially annexing the territories while either facilitating the
exit of Palestinian residents or allowing them to remain but without
voting rights.

The
approval of the plan, dubbed by its supporters “The Decision Plan,”
has been actively promoted by Habayit Hayehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich.
It aims to “alter the discourse and present a true alternative to
any plan based on dividing the land,” according to a National Union
statement.

“After
a hundred years of managing the conflict, the time has come for a
decision,” Smotrich told the assembly. “The principles [of the
left] have within a few years become accepted by growing parts of the
Israeli leadership. First on the left, and later, unfortunately, also
on the right, which to a great extent has lost its belief in the
justice of our path and has been dragged toward the two-state
solution.

“The
vision of the decision plan is not new,” Smotrich said. “These
are the foundations on which Zionism was erected. We do not assume
that there are two narratives here that are equal. There’s one side
that’s correct, and another that is undermining the right of Israel
to exist as a Jewish state.”

Smotrich
added, “We have to engrave in the consciousness of the Arabs and
the entire world that there is no chance of establishing an Arab
state in the Land of Israel.”

The
plan was unanimously approved by the delegates present, who included
Habayit Hayehudi MKs Smotrich, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, and MK
Moti Yogev. Party chairman Naftali Bennett, however, did not attend
the conference, nor did he send a recorded message, although Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did.

The
Smotrich plan presents a kind of surrender-or-transfer ultimatum to
the Palestinians in which “two alternatives will be offered to the
Arabs of the Land of Israel:

“1.
Anyone who is willing and able to relinquish the fulfillment of his
national aspirations will be able to stay here and live as an
individual in the Jewish state.

“2.
Anyone who is unwilling or unable to relinquish his national
aspirations will receive assistance from us to emigrate to one of the
Arab countries.

There
is also a third option.

“Anyone
who insists on choosing the third ‘option’ – to continue to
resort to violence against the Israel Defense Forces, the State of
Israel and the Jewish population will be determinedly handled by the
security forces with greater force than at present and under more
comfortable conditions for us.”

The
plan further calls for a “settlement decision.”

Smotrich
proposes offering “self-government” to the Arabs in the occupied
territories, who “would be divided into three regional municipal
governments that will vote in democratic elections,” based on
districts.

According
to the plan, “These governments suit the cultural and
extended-family structure of Arab society.” The objective is “to
dismantle the Palestinian national collective.” It is stressed that
“the Arabs of Judea and Samaria will be able to conduct their own
daily lives, but in the first stage will not be able to vote for the
Israeli Knesset.”

As
Smotrich himself wrote in the past about the plan, “The big
challenge in this context will be the democratic challenge; the need
to persuade the world that among all the different alternatives, the
alternative of democratic rights without the right to vote for the
Knesset is the least bad alternative. It is indeed a challenge, but
we can meet it.”

Racists?
Us?

National
Union members seem offended when asked to explain why their plan
isn’t racist. “God forbid,” said party secretary Ofir Sofer.
“It’s clear that there are difficulties in discussing this using
the concepts we have today. But it’s not racist,” he said.

Sofer
added that although the plan uses the term “the Arabs of the Land
of Israel,” it does not mean that Israeli Arab citizens would lose
their citizenship.

“The
plan proposes citizenship,” he adds. “In the long term it
proposes this. [Even today] Israeli Arabs don’t serve in the army
and the Arabs of East Jerusalem don’t vote for the Knesset. That’s
why I think it isn’t racist. You can’t create two contradictory
realities – of settlement and the Palestinian Authority. But I
would never vote for a racist plan.”

Sofer
also protests the use of the term “transfer.” “Where do we talk
about transfer?” he asks. “We’re talking about encouraging
emigration. We have this for the Eritreans, etc. We are aiming here
exactly at those terror operatives, those who support terror. Are you
in favor of encouraging emigration of Eritreans and not of
terrorists?”

As
far as an explanation as to what will constitute “handling by the
security forces” that the plan warns about for those who refuse to
leave and retain national aspirations, both the plan and Sofer are
vague.

Smotrich’s
program may sound ephemeral, but it received recognition from
Netanyahu, who sent a videotaped message of support to the
conference.

“I
was happy to hear that you are devoting the discussions at the
conference to the subject of the future of the Land of Israel. Up
until not so many years ago, this country was deserted and abandoned,
but since we returned to Zion, after generations of exile, the Land
of Israel is flourishing,” said Netanyahu in the recorded greeting.

The
prime minister added: “Within less than 70 years, we have succeeded
in building a prosperous country, a world leader in economics,
technology, security, agriculture, cybersecurity, health and many
other fields. We are building the country and settling it in the
mountains, the valleys, the Galilee, the Negev and in Judea and
Samaria too, because this is our country. We have been given the
privilege of living in the land, and we have an obligation to guard
it carefully.”

The
premier’s greeting got rather weak applause. The most common
explanation for this among the National Union activists is their
belief that Netanyahu doesn’t really believe in the plan, but was
just trying to pass Habayit Hayehudi’s Bennett on the right. “He’s
winking at the right,” said one delegate. “He understands that
the votes are on the right,” said another.

“The
Decision Plan is an important plan, particularly from the perspective
of awareness,” Ariel said. “It’s not enough that there are half
a million Jews in Judea and Samaria, and with God’s help there will
be a million. We have to reach awareness, to recognize the justice
[of Israeli rule and settlement in the West Bank]. To say, “Honorable
Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu, there is not and will never be two
states between the Jordan and the sea.’ I have told him many times,
‘You know there will never be two states.’ But the comments day
and night about two states undermine and erode awareness of the
justice of our path, that the Land of Israel is our.”

Bennett’s
absence from the conference was no coincidence; those who know him
say the education minister isn’t very excited about Smotrich’s
proposals. A few years ago Bennett presented his own “Pacification
Plan,” which included annexation of some parts of the territories
but didn’t include any mechanism for a population transfer.

Although
Habayit Hayehudi and the National Union are closely affiliated and
have been running together for Knesset, Bennett’s associates say he
knows he will never be able to reach the political heights he’s
seeking – in other words, the prime ministership – on a joint
list with the National Union. He believes that a list which includes
political views such as Smotrich’s can never be a ruling party.
Their alliance has been a strategic one, but if he had an opportunity
to run with a party that could attract more centrist votes, he would
be happy to part ways with it.

Ariel
is well aware of this. That’s why, in his address, he called on
Bennett to preserve the alliance. “I call to my colleague and
friend, Minister Bennett – unity is a value. And when it comes to
politics, it can bring far greater achievements than other things.
That’s why we at the National Union are fighting for the unity of
the camp.”